Bush fires so hot as to make their own weather - California (video)

California bush fires going bananas

We're on a ship of fools folks. Where do we get off?

We get lots of bush fires in Australia, many of them catastrophic and deadly, but I've never heard of anything like this. Fires burning so hot as to create their own weather that makes the fire even more destructive, even for places that aren't burnt but caught up in the weather system.

Australian treasurer Scott Morrison worshiping coal in federal parliament

It seems the northern hemisphere is having an extremely hot summer. But if you talk to many in our gov here though, climate change doesn't exist for them and they keep pushing coal. Insanity. Ship of fools.

It's certainly a worry what we may go through in Australia in our coming summer this year with bush fire season.

The so-called "fire clouds" form over volcanic eruptions or forest fires when an intense heating of the air triggers an upward motion, pushing smoke and water vapor to rapidly rise. These foreboding clouds can develop their own weather, even producing thunderstorms with severe winds, which fan the flames and help the wildfires spread.

 One "fire-induced vortex" in Redding caused damage that made it look like a tornado ripped through the city, downing trees and blowing off the roof of an unburnt home. SFGate   

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"The wind in Lake Redding Estates was so strong during the Carr Fire on Thursday night that it blew the roof off this house," Mike Chapman, a reporter for the Redding Record Searchlight, wrote on Twitter Friday.

 Elsewhere in Redding, trees have been uprooted by the force of the winds, which have drawn comparisons to tornadoes from climatologists and fire officials.

 "Wind damage in Redding suggests that fire-induced vortex may have behaved similarly to full-fledged tornado," Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA, told Active NorCal. "Mature trees uprooted, roofs peeled off, high-tension power pylons down, and windows smashed."

 "Not sure I've ever seen anything quite like this," he said of the strength of the vortex.

 "We're seeing, literally almost what can be described as a tornado occurred over this fire yesterday," Cal Fire Chief Ken Pimlott agreed at a news conference Friday. SFGate

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